approaches Flashcards
what are the basic assumptions for the psychodynamic assumptions?
mind consists of multiple parts - conscious mind, pre-conscious mind, and the unconscious mind
behaviour explained as a result of conflicts between different aspects of the mind
early childhood experiences shapes us as adults
5 psychosexual stages
what does Freud emphasis?
emphasises the role of the unconscious mind in determining behaviour
what is the role of the unconscious mind?
iceberg
conscious - what we are directly aware of
pre-conscious - memories, thoughts and beliefs we are not directly aware of but that can be accessed by making an effort to do so
unconscious - everything else, biological drives, instincts, desires, repressed memories and fears, cannot be easily accessed
what is the tripartite structure of personality?
freud proposed it:
Id - primitive, biological part of personality, present from birth, pleasure principle demanding gratification
Ego - mediates between the id and the superego, reality principle
superego - the moral higher values, morality principle, punishing the ego through guilt
according to Freud how is our behaviour determined?
determined by the interactions of the id, ego and superego. ego sits in the middle and tries to balance the competing demands of the id (biological drives) and superego (moral beliefs, right and wrong). improper balance creates anxiety and is the cause of mental disorders. the mind resolves these conflicts by defence mechanisms.
what are defence mechanisms?
ways in which the ego manages the conflicts between the id and superego:
repression, denial and displacement
what is repression?
hiding an unpleasant or undesirable thought (sexual or aggressive urges) or memory from the conscious mind
what is denial?
rejecting and refusing to accept reality
what is displacement?
redirecting emotions from the actual target to a substitute
names the psychosexual stages
oral 0-1 pleasure focus - mouth, feeding
anal 1-3 pleasure focus - anus, expelling faeces
phallic 3-5 pleasure focus - genitals, masturbation, desire focuses on penis or clitoris
latency 5-puberty pleasure focus - repressed, sexual desires are repressed
genital puberty pleasure focus - genitals, sexual desires are conscious directed towards having sex
what is the oedipus and electra complex?
occurs at the phallic stage, boys develop a sexual attraction towards their mother and a hatred of their father, the fear of castration develops. but this complex is resolved when the boy identifies with his father.
girls go through the same thing but with their mother
what are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach?
explanatory powers - theory used to explain how experiences in early childhood influence adult personality. common in Bowlby’s continuity hypothesis and double bind explanation in sz
RWA - treatment, psychoanalysis
what are the weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach?
unscientific/pseudoscientific - not falsifiable, unconscious concepts are not observable by the individual themself let alone measurable in a lab.
small number of case studies that are idiographic - Hans and the phobia of horses
ignores other factors - explains mental disorders as a result of conflicts, ignores biological explanations.
what are the basic assumptions for the cognitive approach?
inner mental processes studied scientific, can be inferred by their external behaviours
mental processes can be modelled, computer model inputs and outputs
theories
what is a schema?
cognitive framework of organising information and understanding of the world
formed from experiences, use to interpret the past form expectations and predication for the future
what are computer model in relation to the cognitive approach?
information input into the brain, processed then output
they say that the mind works similar to a computer
what are theoretical models?
to explain cognitions behind behaviour, MSM
explains how information flows through various components for processing
describe the emergence of cognitive neuroscience.
relationship between brain activity and mental processes. looks at the biological workings underlying cognition
technology has advanced, fMRI and PET scans
Braver et al - observed greater working memory load is correlated with greater prefrontal cortex activity
suggests the underlying biological basis for working memory is situated in the area of the brain
what are the strengths of the cognitive approach?
acknowledges mental processes, they are important in determining behaviour.
scientific - mental processes cannot directly be observed, rigorous experimental methods based on observed data to infer details
RWA - therapies CBT, shown to improve symptoms of depression
what are the weaknesses of the cognitive approach?
machine reductionist - simplifies the mind to a computer, similarities between two types of processing. however doesn’t take into account emotions and motivation that humans have
humans also make mistakes EWT whereas as computer take in every information no matter if it has little use
ecological validity - based on lab studies, Baddeley test of the CE is an unusual task that one wouldn’t normally perform in real-life
who is Wundt?
he is the father of experimental psychology
founded the first psychology lab in 1879
pioneered the technique of introspection
what is introspection?
looking and examining one’s thoughts, emotions and sensations and the participants would recall back what their inner experiences when they saw images or heard sounds
what are the strengths of Wundt’s role in psychology?
scientific - tried to apply the scientific methods, controlling the environment where he conducted his introspection experiments would prevent extraneous variables.
he was influential - focus on the importance of inner mental processes, influence cognitive psychology
what are the weaknesses of Wundt’s role in psychology?
not scientific - attempts to study the mind scientifically, his research can be considered unscientific. as it should be objective, but Wundt’s measurement of thoughts are subjective. Wundt was unable to replicate his findings, therefore his research was unreliable.
how did psychology emerge?
behaviourism - early 1900s, remained the dominant approach, rejected Wundt’s introspection approach because not scientific - focused on externally observable data
cognitive - 1960s interest in inner mental processes, makes inferences
biological - early 2000s with the discovery of fMRI in 1990 measure brain activity and correlate it with mental processes, advances in genome sequences, genetic basis for psychological disorders
what are the basic assumption for behaviourism?
mind is a blank slate everything learned from experience
study of the mind focus on external behaviour, measured and observed objectively
animals and humans have the same behaviour, conclusions on animals can be applied to human behaviour
who did an experiment with classical conditioning? what was the experiment?
Pavlov, demonstrated how dogs could be conditioned to salivate by ringing the bell at the same time as presenting the dog with food.
dogs learned to associate the bell with food, producing a conditioned response in the dogs.
who used operant conditioning? what was their experiment?
Skinner, skinner’s box, he used rats and this is how behaviours are reinforced in response to consequences.
started with the rats would have to push a leaver and a treat would be released - positive reinforcement.
then the rat would have to push the leaver to turn of the electrical shock in the cage - negative reinforcement
what is positive reinforcement?
behaving in a way that gets rewarded
what is negative reinforcement?
behaving in a way to avoid negative consequences
what is punishment?
negative consequences for bad behaviour
what are the strengths of behaviourism?
it is scientific, measurable, repeatable, lends to credibility
RWA - treating phobias, flooding and systematic desensitisation
what are the weaknesses of behaviourism?
ignores the internal mind, trying to make it scientific only have a stimuli and a response
ethical problems with rat study, Skinner’s experiment caused the animal distress.
validity of animal experiments - humans are different to animals especially rats and pigeons, therefore the studies cannot be generalised
what are the basic assumption for social learning theory?
behaviour is learned from experience, with CC and OC adding observation and imitation of behaviours
people imitate the behaviours of role models who they identify with, vicarious reinforcement
allows cognitive elements - mediating processes
S - MR - R
what are the mediating processes in SLT?
attention - behaviour has to be important to grab attention
retention - observed the behaviour has to be retained
reproduction - abilities influence our decision to physically reproduce
motivation - think through and conclude that a behaviour will be positively rewarded, motivates us to imitate the behaviour
what is the main study for SLT?
Bandura and the bobo doll experiment
observed that children imitate the behaviours of role models they identify with
what was the procedure of the Bobo doll study?
36 boys and 36 girls
each had a bobo doll and observed an adult role model interact with the doll
separate groups:
aggressive - role model hits with a hammer
non-aggressive - role model does not hit the doll
half the subjects had the same gender as the role model
after observing the role model, children were taken into a room of toys, but couldn’t play
what were the findings of the bobo doll study?
children who had observed an aggressive role model acted more aggressive than the children who observed a non-aggressive role model
boys acted more aggressive the girls in general
child was more likely to imitate the behaviour of the role model of the same gender
what is vicarious reinforcement?
where a person is more likely to imitate a behaviour if they observe a model being rewarded
what are the strengths of SLT?
more complete account than behaviourism, S - MP - R, mediational process allow that someone could internally reflect on what they have observed. can explain why people often act differently in response to similar stimuli
cultural differences - children learn behaviours by modelling those around them, explains different behaviours between cultures.
what are the weaknesses of SLT?
bobo doll ignores the role of biological factors, such as boys have higher testosterone levels contributing to being more aggressive, therefore not just SLT but biological factors , SLT is not sufficient enough approach to explain behaviour
ecological validity - bobo doll experiement conducted in unfamiliar setting - DC, children might have been behaving in the way they thought they were expected. doll just a doll, unclear whether the children would model aggressive behaviour towards other children in real life
what are the basic assumptions for the biological approach?
full understanding of human behaviour looking at biological processes
genetics
biological structures
neurochemistry
mind is the brain not separate
what is the difference between genotype and phenotype?
genotype - genetics, DNA
phenotype - characteristics, in response to the environment
how can twin studies help with the biological approach?
confirm the genetic influence of psychological traits
the concordance rate - rate at which twins share the same trait, higher among MZ twins than DZ twins, suggesting a genetic component to the disorder.
how does evolution impact the biological approach?
genes that have helped humans are passed on such as hunting, then the gene would be less likely to starve to death and pass the gene onto the next generation.
what is neurochemistry?
hormones and neurotransmitters
what are the strengths of the biological approach?
twin studies have shown that genetics do influence and affect behaviour, the concordance rate show OCD 68% for MZ and 31% for DZ twins
similar to that of sz 48% MZ and 19% DZ
scientific - observable measures, hormone levels, fMRI, double blind procedures
RWA - drug therapy
what are the weaknesses of the biological approach?
high concordance rates for certain behaviours and disorders, but concordance rates are lower than 100% therefore not all to do with biology, influence of the environment.
reductionist - ignores other factors
deterministic - biological factors outside of our control, therefore the structure that make us up cannot be controlled, behaviour is not controlled by us.
what are the basic assumptions for the humanistic approach?
emphasises free will of the individual
individual is unique, focus on the experience of each individual - idiographic
individual should be viewed holistically
what is self-actualisation? who came up with it?
fulfilling your potential
Maslow and Rogers
Maslow - meeting all levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Rogers - having unconditional positive regard and achieving congruence between self-concept and ideal self.
what is the Hierarchy of needs?
physiological needs - food, water, sleep, sex
safety needs - shelter, security
social needs - friends, intimate relationships
self-actualisation - achieving your potential
needs all of these before self actualisation can be reached.
what was Rogers view of self-actualisation?
involves unconditional positive regard and congruence between how a person sees themself and their ideal version of themself, but the gap cannot be too big
what is condition of worth?
if a person’s parents impose conditions of worth on them, they are less likely to have positive self-regard. if a parent only praises and loves their child when they do well in school their love is conditional. can cause feelings of low self-esteem and worthlessness that prevent self-actualisation. compared to those who have unconditional positive regard, easier to reach self-actualisation
what is congruence?
refers to how closely two things overlap. higher congruence more easier it is to reach self-actualisation.
what is a RWA for humanism?
counselling therapy
core qualities of good counselling therapy:
genuine - doesn’t hide behind a professional facade
unconditional positive regard - therapist accepts and values the client for who they are without disapproval or judgement
empathy - actively tries to understand and appreciates the client’s perspective
aim - increase congruence and self-worth
what are the strengths of humanism approach?
RWA - counselling therapy , person-centred therapy was effective
holistic - considers all aspect of a person’s life, more valid insights and treatments
based on real-life high ecological validity no based on lab studies
what are the weaknesses of the humanism approach?
unscientific - subjective, doesn’t produce quantifiable or replicable data
idiographic - rejects the idea of trying to generalise behaviour with theories and hypotheses
cultural differences - self actualisation within focuses entirely on the individual achieving their own potential, collectivist countries emphasise the common good and may preferto focus on achieving community or societal potential rather than self-actualisation
